- #Reformatting external hard drive to fat 32 Pc
- #Reformatting external hard drive to fat 32 license
- #Reformatting external hard drive to fat 32 mac
- #Reformatting external hard drive to fat 32 windows
Wow after reading Slomo's post I feel like i just gave birth to a Dell. I'm not even sure if MS actually sells licenses for NTFS since all docs I've ever seen on the subject were from reverse engineered sources.Īs it is often the case the root of the problem is not technical but financial/legal.Ah, that's rich: Sony running into someone ELSE'S proprietary wall. It's subject to licensing and if I remember correctly not entirely do ented (at least outside MS). NTFS is a propriatary file system from Microsoft. MS has provided a tool to convert files from FAT to NTFS but not the other way round - because they don't want to.Īs it is often the case the root of the problem is not technical but financial/legal.Īctually it makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately MS sued and in 2006 was granted patents pertaining to FAT thus effectively enabling them to start selling licences for FAT.
#Reformatting external hard drive to fat 32 license
The main reason it is implemented in so many removable storage devices is that it was concidered to be license free, because the MS patent applications were rejected based on the fact that several other companies (IBM, Xerox) were developing similar files systems at the time and that FAT was the result of all this development.
The restrictions of FAT32 vs.NTFS are really small while performance is more or less the same (the 32GB volume size is artificially implemented by MS, the real limit volume size is 8TB). I'm not even sure if MS actually sells licenses for NTFS since all docs I've ever seen on the subject were from reverse engineered sources.įAT32 is a standard file system that most if not all OS can use.
#Reformatting external hard drive to fat 32 windows
Un- ing-believable that Sony uses state of the art Blu-Ray lasers with the PS3, but doesn't support NTFS, the gold standard for Windows file systems, and something that's been around since Windows NT.Actually it makes a lot of sense.
#Reformatting external hard drive to fat 32 Pc
The straightest line between two points might be for you to find someone with an older PC running '98 SE or maybe Win2K and have them format it for you. Some sites offering formatting procedures/instructions/other: Please note that MacOS cannot support FAT32 par ions greater than 128GB.ġ: You want to encrypt files, assigning permissions to files, or want to audit files for access.Ģ: You will be formatting par ions larger than 32GB.ģ: You need to store individual files that are larger than 4GB, or you use a backup program that writes large files.Ĥ: You need a filing system that can be mirrored or structured like a RAID 5 configuration.
#Reformatting external hard drive to fat 32 mac
You can convert from FAT32 to NTFS, but not from NTFS to FAT32.ģ: You want to connect to a Mac and have access to the data. Once you have converted a volume from NTFS to FAT32 there is no going back. In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, you will not be able to create a par ion greater than 32GB (using FAT32).ġ: You will be dual booting/accessing data with an Operating System other than Windows NT/2000/XP.Ģ: You may need the ability to dual boot down the line. It has fewer limitations than FAT32 and will enable a par ion to be created that is larger the 32GB.įAT32 is a file system that is compatible with Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. NTFS is a newer file system that is compatible only with Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. Performance is very similar between the two systems.
The two prevalent file system formats for PCs are FAT32 and NTFS.